


Return

by Raufnir



Series: Older Gladnis Series [4]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Cindy's awesome, Daddy Gladio (not in that way though!!!), Gladio is such a goofball dad, Gladnis, Hearing Voices, Ignis thinks he's going mad, Kids, M/M, Papa Ignis, canon character death, gladnis with kids, noct's sacrifice made me sad, older gladnis, return to Hammerhead, someone give Prompto a hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-17
Updated: 2017-05-17
Packaged: 2018-11-01 20:55:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10929873
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Raufnir/pseuds/Raufnir
Summary: On the day that marks the anniversary of Noct’s return from the Crystal, Gladio and Ignis planned to go with Prompto to Hammerhead to spend some time there on a day that means so much to all of them. Gladio and Ignis’ daughter, Clara, kicks up some fuss and demands that she and Nox be brought along too. Each of the four adults has their memories of Noctis, and for each of them today is a painful day. Ignis lost his charge, his best friend, almost his little brother. Gladio’s whole life’s purpose was to protect him, and in the end he couldn’t. And Prompto lost his soulmate. They had a week with him before he sacrificed everything to bring back the dawn.Ignis, who has been hearing Noct’s voice in his mind for a month or so by this point, hears it again in the quiet of Hammerhead. Is he going mad, or is their king waiting for them there?





	Return

“But it’s not _fair_ ,” Clara whined, stamping her foot. “You _promised._ You _promised_ we could come with you and Uncle Prompto next time you went to see Cindy. You _promised!_ ”

Ignis sighed in his seat on the sofa. He was tired. Too tired for arguing with a thirteen year old who was as stubborn-headed as her father. He wished, _ached_ , to be able to cast Gladio a look across the room. One of those looks which begs for support, the ‘beacons lit – I call for aid’ kind of look. As it was, he had no idea exactly where Gladio was, and if he cast the look anyway and the kids saw, it’d lose all its impact. So he just sighed and brought his fingers to the bridge of his nose.

Gladio’s voice rumbled something from the other side of the room, and he heard the patter of smaller feet. Nox, barefoot, wild and shy as a pixie, scuttled over to him, and then Gladio gave a little grunt. Her footfalls stopped, and Ignis couldn’t help but smile. He had no real idea what his girls looked like, but he’d formed a vague impression in his mind. And now he imagined Gladio lifting little, dark-haired Nox up into his enormous arms and settling her down on his hip, even though she was eleven gods-damned years old now. At the sound of him making a ‘boop’ noise, and her subsequent sigh of complaint, he knew he’d brought his finger to her little button nose. Gods, he ached to see them.

It had been a while since he’d heard Noctis’ voice in his mind, and about a month since his episode in the garden where he had lost his shit altogether, but something still tugged at him, like that nagging feeling of knowing you’re supposed to be doing something, but having no idea exactly what it is.

Clara was at it again. _Whine, whine, whine_. Something snapped in Ignis and he stood up so sharply that Clara shut up instantly. “Clara. That's it. You're not coming. I swear, if you don’t –”

“Iggy,” Gladio’s voice warned, closer now, and getting nearer with each of Ignis’ pounding heartbeats.

Without a word, Ignis left the room.

The silence that hung heavy behind him told him all he needed to know. He’d frightened Clara with his anger. Ignis was a gentle man. Reasonable. He never lost his temper in front of people. Except perhaps Gladio, but certainly never in front of his girls. From the living room he heard Clara’s soft voice, but couldn’t pick out the words. Gladio murmured something soothing in return, and then he heard his husband’s heavy footfalls on the hardwood.

“Ig,” he rasped. “Hey…” His voice caught in his throat when he saw Ignis pressed against the bannister of the stairs, breathing heavily. “Hey,” he repeated, a little softer. His huge hand caught Ignis’ elbow and he slid it up his arm to his shoulder and then cupped his jaw in his palm. “Come here,” he said.

“I’m sorry,” Ignis hissed. “I’m sorry I shouted. I shouldn’t have. It wasn’t fair. We _did_ promise them. We should take them, even though…” he paused, unable to finish as emotion surfaced thick and heavy in his chest. “They love it there,” he added after a moment.

Gladio silenced him by pressing his lips gently into Ignis’ and kissing him. It wasn’t a deep or passionate kiss, but suddenly it drew a month’s worth of emotion out of Ignis in one go, and he lowered his forehead onto Gladio’s massive shoulder. And wept.

For a long time, Gladio stroked Ignis’ soft grey hair and said nothing. His breathing was even and steady, but Ignis gradually became aware of his thundering heartbeat. Like a charging mesmenir, it galloped in his chest. “Gladio?” he murmured.

“Hmm?”

“What is it?”

“It’s nothing, Iggy,” he said, stroking his hair again. “It’s nothing. It’s ok.”

“Don’t lie to me,” Ignis whispered.

Gladio swallowed audibly. “I’m just worried about you, that’s all,” Gladio said in a small voice. “You’re not sleeping well, you’re getting more and more distant, and I don’t know how to help you. I love you. I love you so damned much, Iggy.” And he encircled Ignis slender frame in his arms, holding him close to him. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

Ignis exhaled the tension from his lungs in a rush. “I’m not going anywhere,” he said. “Well,” he added, pulling back a bit, “I’m hoping you’ll take us all to Hammerhead, but that’s not quite what you meant, was it?”

Gladio’s chuckle reassured him, and the gentle smack on Ignis’ shoulder helped too. “Come on,” Gladio grumbled. “Get your shit ready.”

“Language,” Ignis scolded, receiving only another chuckle in response. “And anyway, my ‘ _shit_ ’, as you so indelicately put it, _is_ ready.”

“Oh,” Gladio cooed, and Ignis could almost _hear_ his eyebrows shooting up, buoyed up by his sudden sarcasm. “I’m sorry, sass-meister, I didn’t realise. I guess I’ll go get my _shit_ together and see you in a minute. I’ll tell Iris not to expect the kids.”

Ignis laughed a little and then headed back out into the living room. He paused in the doorway and listened. Nox was humming tunelessly on the sofa, engrossed in a game with the two small, beloved, stuffed chocobos Prompto had given her for her eighth birthday, but there was no sound from Clara. He called her name softly but got no response.

“She’s in the kitchen,” Nox supplied.

“Thank you.”

Ignis made his way into the kitchen and stood once again in the doorway, one hand on the frame for reference. “Clara?”

“What?” she snapped sourly. He heard the furious scribbling of a crayon on the kitchen table and he prayed she was drawing on paper and not on the nice wood, but he bit that down. _Time and place, Scientia,_ he cautioned himself.

“I’m sorry,” he said, stepping into the room a pace or two, fingertips skimming the glacially smooth countertop. The crayon sound stopped but she remained sullen and silent. “I’m sorry I lost my temper with you. You had every right to be upset that we were going to leave you with Aunt Iris when we had promised to take you out to see Cindy next time we went.”

“Why didn’t you want us to come?” she asked. Her voice was pinched with hurt and confusion, and it made Ignis’ heart clench.

“Daddy and I thought…” What had they thought? That today would be too sad for them to bring the children along after all? “Thought that it’d be a nice chance for the adults to catch up and do something together, I think,” he said vaguely. “And your aunt has been begging him to let you girls stay with her just the two of you.”

“You didn’t ask us though,” she pouted. And thus they came to the heart of the matter.

“I know. And that, too, was wrong of us.” He paused and took his visor off, rubbing his scars. They had taken to itching lately, ever since he’d first heard Noct’s voice in his mind.

“Are you alright?”

“Yes,” he replied instantly, automatically.

“Papa?”

He sighed and put the glasses back on. “Just an itch, little one,” he chuckled. She didn’t seem convinced, but she kept quiet. “Are you ready to go?”

“Yeah. I don't think I need anything.”

“Alright. We’re nearly ready to leave, just waiting on daddy.”

There was half a heartbeat of a pause before Clara giggled, “Not any more.”

Ignis frowned, sensing a presence looming up behind him, but before he could react, Gladio had actually grabbed Ignis around the waist and hoisted him into the air with a cartoon behemoth roar.

“Gladio!” Ignis barked indignantly, long limbs flailing as he was carted out of the kitchen like a sack of flour. “Put me down this instant!”

“Nope,” he chirped. “Nope, you’re my prisoner now. Troops, rally to me!” And he gave another roar and carted Ignis off to the sofa, flinging him down onto it with what might have looked like reckless abandon, but Ignis knew he was being careful. The toss was calculated just right so that Ignis flopped onto the sofa cushions beside Nox, who launched an airborne attack with her fluffy chocobos into his neck.

Ignis laughed so hard he felt tears leaking out of his right eye. “Stop, I yield,” he gasped. “Please, gods, have mercy. I’m sorry!”

“Aha!” Nox exclaimed in triumph. “The tyrant is toppled at last!”

Clara joined them and flopped over the edge of the sofa to land on top of him. He scooped both his girls up, one in each arm, and held them close. “I love you,” he said. “I'm sorry. I love you both so much.”

Clara softened and nuzzled into his chest for a moment. The peace didn’t last long. “Papa, you’re squashing Buttercup!” Nox complained, trying to extricate one of her little chocobos from beneath her father with fruitless shoves. “She can’t breathe! Get off!”

Ignis caught the blow Nox had launched at her sister in retaliation for a snickering comment about the chocobos, fingers gripping her gently by the wrist and cautioned her with an expression. “Clara, would you move please so I can get up?”

“Come on,” Gladio called, hauling his elder daughter to her feet. Before Ignis could warn him not to, he yanked Ignis up, pecking him quickly on the cheek, and then came Nox, and once his whole troop was on its feet, he gave the order to move out.

“Clara, put your seatbelt back on. I don’t want to say it again.” Ignis’ voice was only a little less sharp than his hearing as the car pulled through Insomnia with all the speed of a slug. 

She groaned and sat back in the seat with a humph.  "It's not like we're even _going_ anywhere right now," she pouted.

“Clara…” Ignis warned, waiting for the metallic clink of the catch. When he heard it, he nodded once in approval.  The car slowed again before it had barely reached twenty, and Ignis sighed. “Traffic’s bad today,” he commented. 

“Uh-huh,” Gladio muttered.

Ignis caught the note of strain in the former shield’s voice, and reached across, his hand looking for Gladio’s thigh. He rested it calmly on the iron muscle, aiming for reassuring and hoping he wasn’t distracting the driver. 

Gladio took one hand off the wheel and laid his palm over Ignis’ hand, his fingers curling affectionately around Ignis’ until they disappeared entirely beneath him. Gladio gave one brief but tender squeeze, and returned it to the wheel. Ignis left his hand on Gladio’s thigh, and found he enjoyed the way Gladio's muscles played as he shifted his foot on the pedals. They'd gone for a manual car because Gladio had complained that automatics were like GoKarts, and he actually liked the act of driving. Even if he was going to wear out the clutch in all that Insomnian traffic. 

Ignis knew why he was stressed. It wasn't just their difficulties that morning. The same thing stressed him too. And no doubt, when they picked him up, even Prompto would be stressed as well.

Clara banged her palms on the door and tried to undo the catch as they finally drew into the citadel complex, but the child-lock was on and she couldn’t get out. “There’s Uncle Prompto!” she babbled happily. “Yay! Can I get out?”

“No, Clara,” Ignis sighed. “Please, just sit tight. Nox, you shuffle over into the middle and give Prompto some room.”

“Already done it, papa,” Nox said quietly, making a slight grunt as Clara jostled her. 

Ignis cocked his ear further around and realised that she was telling the truth. “Good girl. I didn’t hear you,” he smiled.

She grinned and made a little noise in her throat to accompany the gesture. Ignis ached again to see her, to see that tiny gesture. He wished he knew what his girls really looked like. Gladio had described them, and his hands knew the contours of their faces, the softness of their hair, the arch of their eyebrows, the curve of their ears, the strength of their tiny hands, but he had no true mental image for them.

In his mind, he recalled Prompto still as the gangly, goofy twenty year old he had been when Ignis’ eyes had been burned out, but Gladio was younger in his mind’s eye. Gladio had been surprised to learn that in Ignis’ imagination he would forever be the enormous nineteen year old who’d used to wait outside the training arena for him, wearing that stupid baseball cap and the big Crownsguard hoody that was now more hole than hoody, folded reverently in a drawer like a holy relic of a bygone age. 

And Noctis… Noct was an immortal teenager, somewhere around seventeen: smooth cheeked, dark haired, quiet, immensely caring, and fiercely loyal. 

“Iggy?” 

“Hmm?” He jumped, startled out of his thoughts by a pair of hands on his shoulders from behind. 

“You ok?” Prompto asked. “You zoned out on us there.”

“Apologies, Prompto,” he said, bowing his head. “How are you?”

There was a note of tension in his answer. “Pretty good,” Prompto said, leaning back as Clara began to ask if he’d booked the shooting range at the citadel for them yet. “No, Clara, I haven’t, I’m sorry. Your dads and I still need to discuss that one, ok?”

“Fine,” she pouted. 

Prompto looked at Nox and asked, “What about you, Nox? Your birthday’s coming up… What would you like to do?” Prompto half expected her to say ‘fishing’, just because she looked so freakishly like Noctis, it was insane. He knew it was only because she had a pale face, black hair and blue eyes, but still, her quietness reminded him of Noct, especially that day. 

She shrugged. “Don’t mind.”

“Well, you have a think, ok? Because shooting was Clara’s idea, and I want to know what you'd like to do.”

“Can we maybe go see the chocobos?” she asked shyly.

Prompto’s face filled with glee and he repeated, “Oh, ho! ‘Can we go see the chocobos?’” He rubbed his hands in delight, and leaned forward to whisper in Ignis’ ear, adopting a higher, more childish voice which they all recalled so well from those months on the road before Altissia and all the years of darkness. “Can we? Iggy…? _Pleeeease_ …”

Both Gladio and Ignis began to laugh as well, the tension shattering as memories from the past surfaced. “Hey, Prompto, you remember when that bird took off with you and all we saw was your chocobo’s ass hightailing it over the hills…?”

“Language, Gladio,” Ignis snorted, trying very hard to hide his laughter behind his hand and a well-placed cough. 

“Oh gods,” Prompto sighed, “I’d forgotten about that. That was so embarrassing…” he cast his blue eyes sideways at Clara and Nox, and made a melodramatically embarrassed face which made them giggle even more. 

The ride out to Hammerhead wasn't too bad. Once they were out of the city, the traffic dwindled to almost nothing, and Prompto kept the girls entertained in the back seat with constant jokes, stories and chatter.

The closer they got, the quieter even Prompto became, and Clara picked up on the change in mood. "Daddy," she asked, leaning forward to talk to Gladio better.

"Hmm?" he murmured, turning his ear a little to the side to hear her.

"What... what's...?" She couldn't seem to find the right words for it.

Gladio let out one of his big old sighs and Ignis felt the fight go out of him. "Today's a bit of a strange day for us, lil' one."

"Why?"

Gladio swallowed. His vision swam a little and he choked down on the words before they became something else. "Ig?" he finally said, turning to Ignis for help as words failed him.

Ignis sighed. "Today is the day that Noct… _King_ Noctis came back to us from the Crystal to fight the darkness." His words were flat and his tone empty, but his voice had cracked on Noct's name, and he knew Gladio would pick up on the maelstrom of emotions whipping around inside him. Gladio, who couldn't even speak through his own grief that had suddenly rushed to the surface.

"Oh," Clara said. “But the Dawnday Festival isn’t til next week?” she said, confused.

Prompto gave a soft hiccup.

Ignis sighed. “He spent a week with us before… before he… before we went to Insomnia,” he said, his rich voice gruff and scraping in his throat.

She glanced sideways at Prompto and then stared in shock from Prompto's face to the backs of Ignis' and Gladio's heads. Silent tears flooded down Prompto's face as he stared out of the window, his chin in his hand, elbow propped against the side of the car. "Uncle Prom?" She finally whispered. "Are you...?"

He snuffled and scuffed the tears from his cheeks with his sleeve. "No," he croaked. "I'm not ok really..." He tried to smile. "I mean, I am, but I just miss him. We were… really close..."

Clara suddenly seemed to realise that demanding to be brought along today might have been a bad idea, but she was too proud to say it aloud, and sat back in her seat, staring at her hands in her lap.

The last leg of the journey passed in complete silence, except for the odd sniffle from Prompto, but soon enough the big old goofy hammerhead roof came into sight, and the massive hangar beside it too. It had been spruced up a bit since the decade of darkness, and the chain fence had been taken down. It was a warm, welcoming and open, and now, a decade to the day since Noctis had returned from the crystal, it was fittingly bathed in brilliant sunshine.

Gladio stepped out of the car and opened Clara's door for her, ushering her and Nox out. Ignis released Prompto from the back and felt a pressure on his arm. "I..." Prompto rasped. "I need some time. I'll catch up with you guys later."

"Of course," Ignis murmured, briefly placing his bare hand over Prompto's in an attempt to comfort him. He no longer wore his once-trademark gloves all the time, needing to rely far more on touch to make sense of the world. He walked faultlessly around the car and turned his head, listening hard for Gladio. He knew it was reckless for a blind man not to use a cane, but he just couldn't bear the way it made him feel _more_ hopeless instead of less. He loathed the attention it invariably brought with it as well.

"Here," Gladio breathed, picking up the contact with the back of his hand, and allowing Ignis to slide his fingers up to the back of his bicep so that he could be led across the forecourt.

The girls ran away over the asphalt, their feet slapping raucously, and a dusty breeze caught Ignis full in the face. There was a rushing comfort to it, the heat, the smell, the little particles crackling against the lenses of his dark glasses, but behind the breeze was a voice. A whisper. Barely there, but still Ignis' ears caught it.

_Ignis_

He stumbled, though there was nothing to trip on, and Gladio turned his face down sharply to look at him. "You ok?"

"I..." he swallowed. "Yes. Fine."

Gladio resumed his steady pace, and called after the girls, "Careful! Watch out for cars!"

"They're fine, Gladio," Ignis chuckled. "There's nothing there. Even I can tell that."

Gladio sighed. "I know." Ignis felt his balance shift as the bigger man looked back at the car. "Is Prom ok?"

Ignis shook his head. "This is hard for him."

They walked in step over to the office where Clara and Nox had disappeared, but the two girls came barrelling out before they reached them, hair streaming behind them. "Cindy's not there," Clara shouted, running off to check the main workshop.

"Please be careful!" Gladio barked, changing direction and tugging Ignis after him at a fast walk to catch up.

Ignis found himself laughing again, despite the chill settling around his lungs at being back. They passed a spot outside the diner where Noct had first spoken after those ten years of darkness and silence, and Ignis heard the echo of his voice own in his mind. _You kept us waiting._ He heard the three paces Noct had taken from where he'd been standing between Gladio and Prompto, and felt the touch of the king on his shoulder. His scent, not strong, but very clearly Noctis, filled his nostrils for a moment, and Ignis couldn't work out if he was in the _then_ or the _now_ for a heartbeat. It all blended together.

"Iggy?" Gladio's voice was thick and rasping. "What is it?"

He hadn't even realised he'd stopped. "I..." He inhaled. It definitely smelled of Noctis. "I can..." He broke off with a grunt. "It's like... It's like that first time all over again. It's like he's _here_..."

"Ig," Gladio said, his voice now kind and deep. "Ig, he's gone."

_Ignis_

Silence. Silence and wind.

_Ignis_

"Gladio," he choked. "I..." Both of Gladio's hands suddenly pressed down on his shoulders. "I can hear him again."

"Come on," Gladio said. He took Ignis' hand and tried to lead him to the garage. "Come on, Cindy's waiting, and the girls are probably trying oxy-fuel welding on their own or something. Come on."

Ignis obeyed, but he couldn’t shake that feeling again. That voice. It _was_ Noctis.

"Well hi there," came Cindy's familiar drawl from inside the workshop. "I wondered when you boys were gonna show up. Your girls seem to think I'm gonna show 'em all my secrets..."

Gladio chuckled and Ignis let go of him again. "Clara, you're too young to learn how to hotwire a car, and Nox, you'll get those shorts all dirty."

"No I won't," Nox countered at the same time that Clara protested that it's never too early to learn to hotwire a car.

Cindy came closer and patted Ignis fondly on the shoulder. "I missed you boys," she said. "It's been ages since you've been out here to see me."

"Forgive us," Ignis said, but Cindy only gave a bright, golden laugh.

"That's alright," she giggled. "Y'all been busy rebuilding Insomnia." She paused. "Now, where's my favourite lil chocobo?"

Gladio snorted at the term of endearment, but his tone went a bit sad around the edges. "He's still out by the car. Needed a bit of time I think."

"Of course," Cindy murmured. "Poor darlin'." She put her hand on her hip, her denim shorts only slightly longer than they'd used to be twenty years earlier. She still had the figure for them. "Y'all wanna come and sit?"

"Thank you," Ignis said.

They spent the day quietly catching up with her on news in the area, and Gladio helped her with one or to jobs, using it as a chance to teach Clara and Nox some metalworking, while Ignis sat alone in the sun, his long legs stretched out in a chair overlooking the forecourt. Prompto had taken himself off for a long walk in the scrubland, and only came back as the sun was beginning to lose its strength. "Hey, Iggy," he called as he hopped over the crash barrier and skipped across the road. "Where are the others?"

"I believe Cindy is showing them the CNC plasma cutter at the moment," he murmured sleepily. He'd taken his glasses off and had them held softly between his fingers in his lap.

"Oh, cool!" Prompto breathed. "I'll head back and check it out too!"

Ignis smiled, still picturing the ebullient twenty year old he had been. "Prompto," he added, calling out to him before he disappeared inside.

"Yeah? What do you need?"

"Would you do me a favour?"

"Sure, anything."

"Would you tell me...? Will you describe the view from here?"

Prompto's smile beamed sadly but surely through his words as he spoke, describing the shimmer of the heat on the tarmac, the sharp branches of the scrubby trees over the road, the dust devils swirling, the sky deepening to a pale peach. When he finished, he looked down at his friend and gasped, "Iggy, you ok?"

Tears were rolling softly down his cheek from his right eye, his left unable to cry due to the more extensive damage and scarring. "Yes, Prompto. I am. But there's a reason I always prefer to ask our photographer to describe the scene than my soldier..." His lips twitched in to a rueful smile. "Thank you."

"No problem..." Prompto faltered. "Um, are you... are you sure you're ok?"

"Yes. Thank you. Please, don't let me keep you. I'm very grateful."

"Ok," he breathed, and darted inside, leaving Ignis alone with the dust devils and emotions swirling.

The sun lost its warmth and Ignis’ limited ability to sense light and dark faded as the sunset progressed. He sighed, and had just thought about standing and going to find the others when he noticed how still it was. It was so silent it seemed to press in on him, filling his ears with the weight of it. Not a leaf rattled on the asphalt, not a sound came from the garage behind him, and not a breath of air stirred the evening around him.

After a few minutes, Ignis stood, head twitching from side to side as he thought he heard... what, exactly?

"Gladio?" he breathed.

A footstep shuffled on the far side of the forecourt. It wasn't Gladio. The steps were too light, too uncertain.

"Prompto?" he quizzed, tension seeping into his chest. No daemons prowled the darkness now, but that didn’t mean the dangers were entirely gone. Hammerhead was usually a haven, frequented by hunters who loved and protected 'Miss Cindy' with a fierceness that bordered on adoration, but still, it never paid to be too careful. But now Ignis was unarmed.

_Ignis_

His lungs stalled. The voice was so loud. He found himself whispering, "I'm mad. I've gone mad."

"Ignis."

This time the voice sounded in his ears, not just his mind. It was gritty, tired, but... it was _him_. "Noct?"

"Iggy."

"Noct?" He repeated the name, stepping forward, no longer caring if he was insane or not. He _had_ to know.

Ignis halted abruptly, shaking, sensing something in front of him rather than seeing it.

"Is it you?" he dared to ask. “Is it really you?”

"Ignis, it's me," he breathed. "They... they let me come back. It... It's taken a while though..."

"How? How is this possible?" he asked, not able to bring himself to raise his hands to find out if he was hallucinating or not.

But then there was a pressure on his right shoulder, just like last time. Ignis' knees went weak, and the pressure shifted from his shoulder to his elbows. The person – Noct or not – was almost the only thing holding him up. "Hey," he said. "Hey, it's me. It's ok. It's ok. Ignis."

Hands shaking so badly he could barely lift them, he followed the slender arms up, discovering that he was wearing just a t-shirt, and that his skin was smooth and cold beneath his touch. His shoulders, gods, Ignis knew the curve of those shoulders, and the set of that neck, and... the stubble around his jaws was the same as the first time he'd come back to them. The cheekbones, the nose, the elegant brows, the long lashes, the unbelievably soft hair... it was all his. "How?"

And then Noctis closed the gap between them and embraced him.

He felt the same. He felt _right_. And he smelled right. "Noctis," Ignis breathed. Tears burst from him and he clutched him tightly to his body, weeping inconsolably into his neck.

“Iggy?” The shout was Gladio’s deep voice, muffled slightly from inside the hangar. “Iggy, where are –?” He broke off as he came through the door and froze abruptly. “Holy fucking shit.”

“Daddy?” Clara’s voice giggled from behind him. “Those are bad words.”

“Holy. Fucking –”

“Gladio!” Ignis fired, straightening up and turning half over his shoulder. “Enough.” He was panting harder than if he’d just sprinted a half mile. “Is it…?”

“Noct,” Gladio breathed. “Yeah. It’s him. He’s older, but… _fuck._ It’s really him.”

From somewhere behind Gladio, they heard Prompto’s voice calling them. “Guys, what’s taking you so long? Come on! Cindy’s waiting.”

Noctis took one step to the side, out of Ignis’ shadow and hissed, “Prom?”

Prompto’s figure appeared in the doorway and he too came to a sudden halt.

He took one look at the figure standing beside Ignis and, a moment later, came crashing to the floor in a dead faint.

**Author's Note:**

> So when I wrote the first one in this series, Playfighting, I did not intend to write all these other ones, but the idea of Prompto collapsing at the sight of an older Noctis coming back to him just wouldn't leave me alone. I wrote the previous work in this series, He Calls My Name, as a prelude for this, with Ignis beginning to hear Noct's voice as Noctis tries to reach out to him from the Crystal. It seemed natural that although Prompto is his soulmate in this slight AU of mine, Noct would reach for Ignis who had been there to guide him his whole life *shrugs*. I'm going to write another chapter to this soon, and have Noct's reunion with them all.


End file.
